A while back a friend of mine said that he discovered research indicating hands-free devices don't lessen the hazard in using a cell phone while driving. This made sense to me and I started observing people in conversation and while using their cell phones.  I could see that an individual's focus during these times was clearly on the conversation and they were often oblivious to everything around them. As an individual and with my research background, I have a need to see the research myself and to validate what my intuition tells me. On this path, I soon discovered the evidence.

After a very quick online search, I discovered a recently released study included in Volume 40 of the Accident Analysis and Prevention publication that was completed by the University of Calgary entitled "A meta-analysis of the effects of cell phones on driver performance." Click here for full details of the study. Here are a couple of quotes to note from the study: "Foremost, cell phone conversation while driving increases reaction time to events and stimuli. This result is unequivocal in this meta-analyses and is consistent with previous meta-analyses in this literature." and "Handheld and hands-free phones produced similar mean RT (reaction time) effect sizes, such that the meta-analytic estimates for each type of phone were essentially the same. Common sense and urban legend suggest that hands-free phones may be safer to use while driving, but handheld and hands-free phones produced similar performance decrements."

So there I have it!!! In a nutshell, evidence-based research shows that the hazard posed by using either a handheld cell phone or a hands-free cell phone, are essentially the same. When in doubt, I always defer to objective research to confirm (or deny) what my intuition may be telling me.